Firebrand Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is stirring up fresh controversy, pinning the blame for last week’s shocking Washington DC National Guard shooting on ‘radicalization’ within the US—pointing a finger squarely at the Biden administration. But here’s the kicker: the accused shooter, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was greenlit for asylum in April 2025, during Donald Trump’s presidency, not Biden’s.
Lakanwal’s path to America reads like a real-life spy novel—working with CIA-supported squads in Afghanistan before touching down in the US in September 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome. Despite his background, Noem doubled down during her NBC Meet the Press sit-down, claiming he fell into extremist circles after arriving stateside. “We’re confident his radicalization happened after settling in the US—linked to his own local community and state,” Noem revealed, adding that authorities are questioning family and friends to trace who might have influenced him.
The Trump camp wasted no time using the incident as ammunition—immediately launching into a crackdown on asylum and green card reviews. Speaking to journalists aboard Air Force One, Trump floated a chilling prospect: a potentially indefinite freeze on new asylum admissions. “There’s no timeframe. It could go on for ages. We have enough issues—we don’t need more troublemakers,” Trump said pointedly.
Noem was quick to accuse the Biden administration of ditching proper security checks. “Vetting when people come in? That’s been scrapped under Biden,” she alleged. In the same breath, Noem acknowledged all the vetting details had been collected under the current administration, but insisted the process itself had collapsed since Trump’s time.
As if the drama couldn’t get thicker, Noem also found herself fending off accusations of ignoring a federal judge’s order while pushing ahead with migrant deportation flights to El Salvador earlier this year. Brushing off the claims, she blamed the judiciary instead. “We won’t back down, not for any radical or activist judge trying to trip us up,” Noem proclaimed defiantly on Meet the Press.
Doubling down later on ABC’s This Week, Noem owned her decision to greenlight the removal flights: “Absolutely, I made that call, using my authority within the law, the constitution, and this president’s leadership to keep criminal gangs and terrorists out,” she said, taking another swipe at what she called “activist judges.” The legal tug-of-war is still playing out, with Judge James Boasberg ordering planes carrying Venezuelan migrants back to US soil in March 2025—only for Noem to push forward, flying detainees to El Salvador regardless. The Department of Justice, meanwhile, maintains that the court’s order wasn’t technically breached since those migrants were already off US territory.
As tensions between the administration, the courts, and Noem’s camp show no sign of cooling off, the debate over national security, immigration, and vetting continues to ignite fierce clashes in Washington’s highest circles.
